Thirty-one horses were found dead in a field, which also contained 84 other horses that were removed yesterday. Fourteen other horses were removed at the weekend, and three others had to be put down.

RSPCA inspectors worked with Thames Valley police and representatives from the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH) to move the animals. Twenty-one of them will now be cared for by the charity Redwings Horse Sanctuary.

Police arrested one man for assaulting a police officer and for criminal damage as they tried to take the horses away.

Redwings spokesperson Nicola Markwell said she was ‘absolutely appalled’ at the levels of neglect all the horses displayed, including matted coats, emaciation, parasites, sores and lameness.

RSPCA spokesman Sophie Wilkinson said that they would be seeking to prosecute the horses’ owner.

The operation to rescue the horses from a field in Hyde Heath in Buckinghamshire is one of the biggest ever operations of its kind by the (RSCPCA).